The heart of the warrior
by Liberus Fatali
Summary: -Formerly dragonauta- Altaverse: Some say that out there exist parallel worlds, mirror images of our own world that reflect what would have happened if we took different paths. So what would have happened if Ranma Saotome had grown up as a digimon tamer?


The heart of the warrior

A Digimon Tamers/ Ranma ½ story

By Liberus Fatali

Disclaimer

I don't own Digimon or Ranma ½, they belong to people far richer and talented than me. I'm also not trying to make a profit of this.

Ranma wise this will be an altaverse story, there won't be any Tendos, Kunos etc, at least not in the beginning. Here Genma isn't a bastard, just a moron, Ranma training is almost the same and yes, he is sold several times by Genma.

Digimon wise this will take place on season 3 and almost all the characters will be the same.

Comments will be appreciated, flames ignored.

Contact me at agzman@aol.com

Prologue I: Ranma's tale.

I really don't remember when all this started but I'll try to tell it just as I remember.

I still remember her face, white skin framed by reddish brown hair. A caring middle-aged lady with the warmest smile you've ever seen. My mother, I wish I could see her again.

He wasn't the brightest man on the face of the planet, on the contrary, he made some... well I admit it a lot of stupid things that on several occasions endangered our lives (more often than not it was my life in danger) he was lazy and to the best of my memory he never worked a single day in his life, I wonder what mom saw in him, must be the infamous Saotome charm.... sorry, I'm trailing off again.

Even with all his faults and mistakes I love him and I know that deep in he loved me too, yes I love him because he was my father.

I was always a very active, mischievous carefree child, back then when I still had a family, my first family anyways the only things I had to worry about were my parents, learning the art from my father and of course at what time was dinner. Even the art was viewed as only a game.

You see, I was the heir, now master of my family's school and I started learning the art since I could walk, it was the lifelong dream of my old man that I became the greatest martial artist to ever live and even if I can't say I'm the best in the world yet I can say that I must be pretty close to that goal.

For that purpose I left with my father on a long training trip when I was five years old and left my mother behind. You might wonder what kind of mother allows her child to be taken away from her.  You see, first of all my father assured her that we would visit her every two or so months. Yeah right, since then I haven't ever seen her again, that's why I can barely remember her. Pops also signed a pledge that stated that if I didn't became a man among men then both he and I would have to commit sepukku, a form of ritual suicide to bring back honour to the family name, my mother was a very traditional woman so with those promises she let us go.

On the first months of the trip I would cry myself to sleep thinking about her and when I asked dad when we could see mom again he responded:

-Ranma, my son we can't see your mother again until you become a man among men and the best martial artist on the world.

With that thought in mind and with renewed hopes and strength I trained harder than ever (as hard as a five year old kid can do it) and went trough all the crazy but effective methods my father came with. Running from dogs and carrying stones in my backpack for endurance, getting pushed from roofs and cliffs to learn how to land properly, running on fences for balance practice and the worst of all: the nekoken.

The nekoken is a forbidden martial arts technique that is supposed to make the trainee invincible. It consisted of wrapping the trainee with cat food and dropping him into a pit full of cats. Yes, it's an invincible technique but it also drives the trainee insane. I was lucky and came out with ailurophobia (pretty big word for a dumb jock ne?) fear to cats. When I'm near a cat for long periods of time I start acting like a cat and gain the reflexes and fierceness of one but I can't control my actions while under its influence. The only way to snap me back is for me to go to sleep or be comforted by someone I trust.

Also I was sold many times by my father, some times for food, sometimes for money and sometimes just for the heck of it, he would always come back and steal me back after a couple of days but once he didn't. That time he sold me to an elderly couple with no children of their own but they treated me as if I was their offspring and left me there for a couple of months. Later I learned from him that he was arrested for getting drunk on the street and he got out some time before. I really enjoyed my time there.

It was there that I acquired my greatest passion aside form the art: Digimon. First it was only the show then the action figures and the playstation games and of course Digimon battle cards. I spent my seventh birthday there and guess what they got me for a present. A brand new special edition card reader that was almost impossible to get along with some very rare cards!

I was overjoyed and started challenging some kids of the block with them. Some times I lost and I was lucky to never loose any of the rare cards but almost always I would emerge as the victor. I was starting to become one of the best players of the neighbourhood when he came back for me.

My adoptive parents were out for the night and I was playing Digimon world on my room when he entered unnoticed into the house, walked silently behind me and knocked me out. He grabbed my travelling pack, some food and me and left the house. I guess I was lucky to have had my card reader and deck on my belt at the time.  

I started crying again thinking of my mom, of my adoptive parents and for the few friends I left behind but most of all because I felt lonely again. For once I wished that I had a true friend that would never leave me, that would stand by my side and helped me on the rough times. I got my wish granted when I met him, my own friend, my own digimon partner.

During the next months, wherever I wasn't training in my beloved art of course, I challenged any card players that I ran into. I also daydreamed about how neat it would be to have my own Digimon and how would he be.

He would have to be brave and strong but also friendly and compassionate. I wanted him to be somewhat like me. He would be of my favourite digimon type: a dragon.

One night, while my old man was getting drunk on the nearest town and I was in our camp sorting my cards when I came across a card I never saw before, it was a strange blue card. Curiosity got the best of me and I slashed it trough my card reader. Then it happened, the event that would forever change the course of my destiny. My reader started glowing and changing shape before my own eyes. When the glow subsided I held in my hands a totally different device with a bigger, bright screen on it.

At first it showed only static but after a while two dots started blinking on the screen, one of them was in the centre and one on the upper side of the screen. I noticed that it moved if I did so I came unto the conclusion that it must be come kind of compass 'cause it even showed the four cardinal points.

I started following the signal growing more nervous the more I approached it. You can imagine my surprise when upon arriving I found a blinding light that was almost unbearable to look into. When I could see again what I saw almost made me faint. A real, live, breathing Digimon was where just some seconds before the light was shining.

A pearly white dragon taller than me (which isn't saying much considering I was only eight years old at the time)standing in two legs with big, round golden eyes, three inch claws and two petit horns on his head (yes, somehow I knew it was a he) was looking at me.


End file.
